This past Sunday I was privileged to speak at church. I gave a brief sermon on “Putting our Faith into Action”. I believe that action, by in large, is what is missing in many of today’s Evangelical Churches.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He replied that loving God with all our heart and mind and strength was the greatest but He didn’t stop there. He went on to say that the 2nd greatest commandment was like it, loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matt.22:36-40). Has it ever crossed your mind that He was only asked for 1 commandment? However He offered 2. Why? I think it is because you can’t separate the 2. In other words, if we truly do love God with all our heart mind and strength, a natural outcome of that will be loving our neighbor as ourselves. If we don’t love our neighbor as ourselves, then the obvious conclusion is that we don’t love God with all our heart mind and strength.
The same principal can be applied to the Faith vs. Works question. It shouldn’t really be Faith VERSUS. Works at all. It should be Faith + Works. There is a difference. Ephesians says that we are saved by grace through faith.
Salvation cannot be earned, it is a gift that can only be accepted. However, if we truly have faith, then we must also have works. Works in this sense is not a negative (trying to earn our salvation) sort of a thing. Rather we should think of it as fruit. If we are saved (truly love God – greatest commandment) then the natural outcome is that we will have good works in our lives (love our neighbor as ourselves). If there is little to no good works (fruit) in our lives, then we must question if we have taken care of the greatest commandment, in other words, our salvation. I know these are strong words, but I simply can’t escape the simple teaching of Jesus in this matter.
Works or fruit, is the proof that we do love God with all our heart and mind and strength, and that we do have faith in our lives, saving faith. If the proof isn’t there………………it is time to start asking some hard questions.
So after explaining this to the congregation, I proceeded to tell them that it would be hypocritical of me to talk about fruit, or good works and then for us all to go home and carry on with our week. No, now was the time for action.
I challenged everyone to come together and clear out the sanctuary and convert it into a kitchen, a sandwich making kitchen. They did so and we made about 150 sandwiches (the ingredients had been bought the day before without the congregation knowing about it). We then ventured out into the 40C weather and passed out ham sandwiches and a cold bottle of water in the name of Jesus. If you know the neighborhood near our church, it is a place of great need. It was a joy to see our church body serving in this way and blessing many needy people in the name of Jesus. I hope when they went home afterward, they rested in the knowledge that they had given Jesus something to eat, and had given Him a glass of water. I hope they were blessed as I was, I hope they know Jesus was blessed as well.
My prayer is that they would see the benefit of serving in this way, leaving the church and leaving our comfort zone to seek out needy people and serve them, and by extension, serving Jesus. I pray that they might have “caught the vision” and will seek out those types of opportunities in their own lives on a regular basis. I pray that as you read this, you too will seek out ways to serve Jesus by blessing someone who is in need, someone who needs the loving touch of Jesus in their lives. You will be blessed, they will be blessed, and Jesus will be blessed. Best of all, if you make this a pattern in your life, when you stand before our Lord on judgement day, you will hear Him say, “for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. Come and take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”.
“A Church that lives within it’s four walls, isn’t a Church” – An African Pastor
“Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.” James 1:22- The Message
Blessed to serve Jesus in this needy place,
The Elliotts
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